


cruel summer

by brightsmoon



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Abandonment Issues, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Childhood Friends, Copious amounts of kissing, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Heart-to-Heart, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Light Angst, Minor Mai/Zuko, Moving In Together, Picnics, Promises, Romantic Fluff, Sibling Love, high school sweethearts
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-25
Updated: 2019-08-25
Packaged: 2020-09-26 02:36:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,549
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20382286
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brightsmoon/pseuds/brightsmoon
Summary: It hadn't occurred to her until now that she'll miss the pink throw pillows on the grey leather couch, the vases on the table they never used - rather eating at the coffee table while burning through their Netflix watch list they stole Zuko's password to - or the pieces of Ty Lee's art scattered around the apartment.It hadn't occurred to her until now she'll missTy Lee.





	cruel summer

**Author's Note:**

  * For [poetroe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/poetroe/gifts).

> i literally wrote this at 10pm at night with no outline, only a vague idea typed out to petra and four aesthetics i had been itching to use. whoops! sorry (but not sorry). i haven't finished book 3 yet but i know tyzula has me in a chokehold i'm perfectly fine with and that plus taylor dropping _lover_ yesterday, this was inevitable.
> 
> title ; [cruel summer](https://genius.com/Taylor-swift-cruel-summer-lyrics) by taylor swift bc i'm nothing if not consistent. loving her is my brand and i stand by it.
> 
> enjoy !

When the last box is loaded into the back of her girlfriend's car and the door closed, it starts to sink in that Ty Lee is leaving. A full-ride scholarship to a school for the arts in California somewhere should be something Azula is proud of her girlfriend for accomplishing but instead, she finds a kind of bitterness on the tip of her tongue.

She's going to miss her.

Ty Lee dusts off her hands with a smile, turning to Azula. The end of summer sun beats down on them and she's glad she let her girlfriend braid back her long hair before they started packing the boxes. Sweat drips down her forehead and Azula swipes at it.

Their apartment is silent when the door closes behind them and Ty Lee sighs, flopping down on the couch. "Boy, it's hot out."

"Heatwave is supposed to be over by the end of the week," Azula says distractedly and leans against the counter, frowning. "_If _the weather nerds do their jobs right."

Already their apartment seems larger, absent of all of her girlfriend's belongings. She finds herself missing the stupid paintings that had lined the wall leading into the living room area Ty Lee insisted was _fine art that you wouldn't get, babe. _

Azula can never say no to Ty Lee, though, so she let it happen.

It hadn't occurred to her until now that she'll miss the pink throw pillows on the grey leather couch, the vases on the table they never used - rather eating at the coffee table while burning through their Netflix watch list they stole Zuko's password to - or the pieces of Ty Lee's art scattered around the apartment.

It hadn't occurred to her until now she'll miss _Ty Lee._

An idea flashes through her head and Azula reaches into the bowl on the counter, swiping the keys to her truck. She jangles them and Ty Lee looks over at her, hanging upside down off the couch, legs against the back cushions.

"Let's go somewhere," Azula says and tosses them.

Ty Lee catches them like she always does and flips backward off the couch onto the rug. "Oooh, where?"

"You'll see," she smirks and Ty Lee smiles.

"Road trip!"

As her girlfriend toes on the same shoes she kicked off minutes before, Azula finds herself smiling. As easy as breathing she bustles her to the door and opens it. "Go start the truck, I'll be out in a second. No peeking!"

Grinning so wide her dimples show, Ty Lee stands on her tiptoes and presses a kiss to her girlfriend's lips. "No promises."

Azula waits until the other girl has closed the apartment door behind her to root through the fridge, pulling the picnic basket from the cupboard above. She sets it on the counter and blows on it, watching the dust swirl from the lid through the air, dancing in the sunlight. Ty Lee had insisted on them buying it almost a year ago at a farmer's market and Azula's inability to say no to her girlfriend had struck again.

They had left the market with a picnic basket they had used once, for a meteor shower they drove into the country to watch, laying in the back of Azula's beat-up green pickup truck. They had spread out blankets and while waiting for the shower, had ended up rolling around and _not _watching the firey streaks across the night sky.

She smiles at the memory and packs Ty Lee's favorite cheese into a glass container. Thanking past-Azula for the foresight to pick up the block, she slips in a bag of grapes along with crackers and a bottle of their favorite wine leftover from the going-away party from the night before and closes the lid.

Closing the apartment door behind her makes it echo and she swallows thickly. In a few hours, Ty Lee will be driving to the airport and Azula will have to say goodbye.

She's not ready.

Azula doubts she ever will be. After all, her and Ty Lee have been attached at the hip ever since the first day of preschool, maybe even closer than Mai and her. Azula had marched up, demanded she needed a red marker Ty Lee was using and Ty Lee had offered it up with a smile and an invitation to join them. Figuring it was better than sitting alone, Azula had sat down.

The rest had been history.

Azula knows she never would have made it through middle school without Ty Lee. In eighth grade, she had been thrust into the foster care system after her father was charged with murdering her and Zuko's grandfather and subsequent disappearance of their mother. Meanwhile, already 17, Zuko was adopted by their uncle.

Iroh had fought and fought for custody of her and when he won, Azula had come to the home she would know throughout high school. Four years later, she would pull Ty Lee onto the stage after her valedictorian speech and kiss her in front of their entire class, to the loud cheers of Zuko and Iroh.

When she reaches the truck, she knocks on the window and Ty Lee rolls down the window. "Missed you."

"I was gone for ten minutes," Azula says dismissively but there's no bite in the words. She leans in to kiss her girlfriend on the lips before handing her the basket.

Ty Lee's face lights up like the sun. "A picnic?! Where are we going?"

"Patience," Azula laughs and goes around to climb into the driver's seat. The steering wheel is an old friend in her hands. It's a hand-me-down from Zuko but she loves the beater with her whole heart, despite the peeling green painted and rusted-shut back gate.

"You know that's impossible," Ty Lee grins and clutches the basket to her chest. Azula throws the truck into reverse and takes her girlfriend's hand when they're on the interstate.

She lifts her knuckles to her lips. "I know," she murmurs, "but you'll love this. Trust me."

"Always," Ty Lee says immediately, as simple as breathing and Azula's chest warms from the inside out.

The unshakeable trust Ty Lee has in her is something Azula has always been afraid of breaking but it's been five years. She knows she's safe, knows Ty Lee is as consistent as Zuko's older brother bothersome texts every morning, a cheery _good morning! _on her phone on the nightstand.

In the back pocket of her ripped jeans, she feels it vibrate. It's been doing it all day, Zuko asking her if she's okay and if she found his wallet he left at her place from the party the night before.

Ty Lee's fingers stay tangled with Azula's until their off-ramp and they drive in silence but it's a comfortable, warm thing, the windows rolled down and Ty Lee's long legs propped on the dash. Some muted new Taylor Swift song filters in through the wind and Ty Lee's converse tap out the beat as she belts the lyrics, turning up the radio.

Azula loves her.

She knows it, then, like the heartbeat in her chest. Azula's known it since eighth grade when Ty Lee walked her to all her classes even when Azula snapped at her, grief manifesting as anger at her father, her brother, her foster parents. She's known it since Ty Lee's eyes softened the heartbeat before Azula kissed her in front of her graduating class, since they whooped when the other's name was called and chose _their_ apartment together.

She thinks she's known it her whole life, has known it as she knows as much as Zuko annoys her, she wouldn't give him up for anything. Knows it like she knows she loves her uncle, a father when she had none.

When they pull off onto a dirt road that swirls in front of the windshield Ty Lee turns to her, smile stretching her cheeks so wide that Azula can see how the space around her eyes creases happily.

"Our spot," Ty Lee murmurs and Azula pulls in under a large oak and throws the truck into park the second before Ty Lee is sliding across the median into her lap to kiss her deeply.

"If you wanted to do this we should've stayed home," Azula pants against her girlfriend's lips, smile causing their teeth to clink together. "The bed is much more comfortable, as much as I love the truck."

Ty Lee leans back, lips swollen. Her entire being glows and she opens the driver's door, hopping out and spreading her arms wide as if she's embracing the summer heat. Although she's already sweating and there's a heat not from the sun in her stomach, Azula smiles and grabs the picnic basket.

"We're not even there yet," she laughs and Ty Lee takes her hand.

"Then let's go!"

Unspoken, it lingers for a moment how time is ticking until she gets into her own car and drives to the airport, how time is ticking until she gets on a plane and Azula won't see her until Thanksgiving break.

She's already started a countdown on her phone.

Azula lets Ty Lee pull her along, both of them chuckling when the basket handle gets caught in the tall grasses that swish around their hips and when Ty Lee almost trips on a tree root. They're drunk on the humidity and each other, the taste of Ty Lee's cherry chapstick mixed with the salt of Azula's upper lip.

Their spot is below a weeping willow at the edge of a stream that winds through the trees, splashing merrily against moss-slick and water-smoothed rocks. Shaded by the long branches Azula spreads the blanket against the roots while Ty Lee kicks off her sandals and runs for the small brook.

Calf-deep in the spring water, Ty Lee motions to her girlfriend, already sitting beneath the wilting leaves of the weeping willow. "Come in!" she calls, laughing. "It's perfect, Zula!"

"I'm fine," Azula calls back before leaning back and closing her eyes to the slight breeze that ruffles the unbuttoned plaid shirt against her collarbone. There's a rustling of grass by her head and Azula opens one eye in time to see Ty Lee's cupped hands hovering above her head.

She shrieks when cold water splashes onto her head and sits up, sputtering, as Ty Lee doubles over in laughter. Azula growls playfully and pulls her girlfriend down atop her, rolling them on the blanket until she's on top.

Water drips down her neck and onto Ty Lee's cheek and Azula's foot knocks against the picnic basket as she leans down to kiss the woman beneath her. They're both grinning like the lovesick fools they are and Ty Lee's arms wrap around her neck, pulling her close until their sweat-sticky legs press together, Azula's knee between Ty Lee's knees.

It's _perfect_.

Later, after legs have been untangled and they straighten their shirt collars, laughing, they lay side by side, heads pillowed against the tree roots softened by the blanket. The cheese, meat, and crackers are gone and head spinning in the most pleasant of ways, Azula takes a swig right from the bottle of wine before passing it back to her girlfriend.

"I'm gonna miss you."

Azula blinks. Apparently, the wine and humidity have loosened her tongue but she can't take back the words. Ty Lee shifts next to her, propping herself on one elbow, blanket creasing as she moves.

"I'm gonna miss you, too," she murmurs, voice barely audible over the chirping of birds and the hum of cicadas. Azula grasps for the bottle of wine and gulps down a too-big swallow. "I almost said no to the scholarship."

The bottle freezes on her lips as Azula stills. "What?"

"I almost said no," Ty Lee repeats and looks out at the meadow, uncharacteristically not-smiling. It seems like a grin is always on her girlfriend's face. "When I got - when I got the call. I was so close to turning them down."

"Why?"

Azula is sitting up now, heart pounding. Ty Lee shrugs, laying back on the blanket and staring up at the green curtain above them, filtering in sunlight. "Because I knew it would mean leaving you."

"But being an artist is your dream!"

She doesn't know why she's so insistent. Ty Lee folds her hands over her exposed stomach, pink crop top riding up and Azula stares at her.

"It is," she says softly, "but so are you. I know what losing your dad meant to you. He left you behind - you're afraid of being left." Azula opens her mouth but Ty Lee keeps talking. "I've been your best friend since diapers, Azula. I know you better than I know myself and I knew if I left for this art school, even though I've been dreaming of it since elementary school, it would hurt you."

"Your dream is my dream," Azula says.

Ty Lee smiles sadly and sits up, tucking a long black strand of her hair behind her ear. "I know."

The words seem to come without Azula thinking.

"Then why are you still going?"

It's selfish and the moment she says it, she wishes she could take it back but when it comes to Ty Lee, she's horribly selfish. She can't help it.

Her girlfriend knows it.

Their foreheads touch and Ty Lee's breath smells like mint gum combined with the fruity, sweet wine. Azula's intake of breath is Ty Lee's exhale.

"Because I love you," Ty Lee says simply, eyes closed. Azula realizes they're swaying slightly as if the wind is picking them up in its soft hold. "Because I love me, too, and I have to do this for both of us. You have your dream and I have mine, and just because they're different and new doesn't mean we should be afraid of them."

As if she can't wait any longer, Azula kisses her then. But unlike the kiss in the truck, with Azula's hand up the back of Ty Lee's top, stroking her shoulder blades and Ty Lee's fingers in her messy braid, it's soft. Subdued. Smoothed at the edges like the rocks but it's time that molded them like that.

Azula pulls back first. "I'm proud of you," she says, hoarse, thick with emotion.

Cupping her cheek, Ty Lee smiles, eyes shining that isn't from the sunlight.

"I know."

So when they walk back to the truck, pinkies interlocked, Azula isn't afraid of losing her. When Ty Lee's phone goes off when they're laying in bed together, Azula isn't afraid of losing her.

Their hands stay connected the entire ride to the airport. Azula holds her like a promise until she can't go any further and Ty Lee pulls them aside from the crowds.

"I'll see at Thanksgiving?"

Ty Lee nods. "Promise."

"I'll hold you to that," Azula smiles but it isn't wobbily. Ty Lee presses their chests together and kisses her like a guarantee.

She's never been one to break her promises and long after they've waved goodbye and Azula walks into an empty apartment, flopping down on the couch and pulling out her phone to check the message from her older brother, she knows Ty Lee isn't leaving her.

They'll always come home to each other.

**Author's Note:**

> come cry with me about zuko and azula on my twitter, @harraiing


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